Turning over the ball

Carlos Gonzalez hit his first major-league home run Friday. The fan who caught the ball was criticized by the A’s announcers for a full inning Saturday because, in Ray Fosse’s words, “He didn’t just take what he was offered for the ball and be happy about it. He started making demands.”

Gee, I wonder where he learned that? I mean, what fan of Major League Baseball would ever think it would be morally OK to demand the most money one could get?

I don’t know what the fan was asking for, but I support him and other fans wholeheartedly in demanding money from players for souvenirs we used to turn over for free.

After all, players charge us now for their autographs. Think about it — a kid worships Ken Griffey Jr. and lines up at an offseason event for the privilege of spending a few seconds in his company. In exchange for Griffey signing a piece of paper, the kid might have to fork over $25.

But when Griffey hit his 600th home run in Miami and a fan refused to exchange it for a few shirts and a signed bat, ESPN’s national columnist Gene Wojciechowski ripped him in a column. Wojciechowski had the nerve to suggest that “the right thing to do” would be to turn the ball over to Griffey, no money changing hands.

That’s just what Griffey himself did when he announced he wanted to play for Cincinnati, right? He just took the minimum major league salary because “it was the right thing to do” to help his hometown team, correct?

Actually, yes, Peter Gammons praised Griffey repeatedly for accepting a “below market” contract of $116.5 million. Paying Griffey has taken up over 20 percent of the Reds’ payroll in some seasons.

So go ahead, anonymous Marlin fan Joe, and ask Griffey for money. How about one game’s pay? That sounds fair, right?

Griffey has played 65 percent of the Reds’ games over the life of his contract, and he earns $12.9 million per year. So he makes roughly $122,500 per game that he plays. That’s about what the fan should get for “doing the right thing.”

ESPN’s Wojciechowski praised a fan who turned over Manny Ramirez’s 500th home run ball for free. I completely disagree.

Ramirez famously once asked a baseball beat writer to loan him $60,000 — that might be more than the writer was making — so he could buy two motorcycles he saw while window shopping on a road trip. This happened before Ramirez signed his 8-year, $160 million contract with Boston.

Ramirez was obsessing over the 500th home run for weeks. It’s meaningful to him — at least as much as those motorcycles. Ramirez must be earning several million dollars a year just in interest on his bank accounts. The fan who turned over the ball for $0 was a fool.

The story is different for Gonzalez and our local Oakland fan. But I don’t see any reason that we shouldn’t talk about the monetary value of Gonzalez’s first home run ball. We measure the monetary value of saves, home runs and innings pitched, so why not mementos?

Gonzalez probably makes the major-league minimum of $400,000, and unlike Griffey he hasn’t been making it for very long. Sure, he’s earning nearly $2,500 per game the A’s play right now. But that strikes me as too much to ask of a guy from Venezuela who just started getting good-sized paychecks this month.

But just consider it as a starting point for discussion of a deal. How about $1,000? Or $500? If Gonzalez doesn’t have the cash, the A’s can buy him the ball as a present. That’s really chicken feed when compared to the expenses of employing major league players. Geez, meal money on the road is $89 per day per player.

Do you think somebody sitting in a $10 bleacher seat is getting $89 per day meal money?

The A’s announcers are working under the assumption that the negotiation starting point is a handshake — that the fan won’t get anything at all. So if the fan gets some bat fragments and a ball used in batting practice and a signature — hey, that’s a $25 value! — the fan should be happy.

Sorry Ray Fosse, that’s just not the way baseball works.

Home run balls have sentimental value for players, and they have long been turned over for free. That tradition is rooted in the old economy where players made only 5 or 6 times the average American’s salary. Now, the average major league salary is more than $3 million — more than $18,000 per game.

I hereby call for a pact between major-league baseball fans everywhere. Let’s start demanding money from players in exchange for home-run balls that have sentimental value.

I’m not being sarcastic or vindictive. I’m simply urging that everyone do what the players do. They are role models after all.